Organic Garden in June in PA

Today I just want to share some of the glorious pictures from my garden which has finally decided to grab on and grow!

First the Montmorency cherries! I picked 12.5 quarts and my friend Julie got a little over 12 quarts too.

Sour cherries covering the branches of my trees.

Right now, just about the same amount of cherries still on the branches of my two trees.

The sour cherry trees are full of cherries this year, probably 40 to 45 quarts.

I have 2 gallons of cherry brandy “cooking” in the closet.  Love making brandy because you don’t have to pit the cherries – just dump them into the pot and boil them up with vodka and brandy.

I also have half a gallon of dried cherries in my refrigerator.  I used my Excalibur  one of the best food dehydrators on the market — to dry 7 trays of them — pitted of course – and will use them in scones (great with organic chocolate chunks) and in my Quinoa Butternut and Dried Cherry Salad with Goat Cheese!

And I still have enough cherries to make 2 batches of Sour Cherry jam – absolutely fabulous on biscuits or cornbread.

My lettuce is about done but I still have some of my favorite – red butterhead.

Red Butterhead lettuce makes a soft, beautiful head that’s perfect for salads.

This head is just right for the picking.  The head it forms is loose but can be harvested whole so you can core it, plate it and serve it just like it looks in this picture.

Or you can cut it in half and serve it like a wedge or just cut it up and serve it in a mixed green salad.  My favorite and worth growing because it is no work at all.

If you have planted lettuce and it bolts, as mine is

Lettuce bolts quickly when temperatures rise.

doing, you might want to leave a few heads in the ground to set seeds.  Some people don’t like the way bolted lettuce looks but I think it’s pretty.

I let 2 or 3 plants of every variety bolt then collect the seeds and use them for fall plantings and next year’s garden.

Each plants gives you hundreds of seeds and they are so easy to save that I almost never have to buy lettuce seeds

I could go on and on about all of my plants like the yellow squash plants you see here.

This yellow squash doesn’t have a stem; it has a trunk!

The first yellow squash on this impressive plant.

Or the pole beans that are climbing up the  fence.

And the Bumble Beans just setting their beautiful deep lavender flowers.

So, instead, I will leave you with pictures that speak a 1000 words….about this year’s beautiful garden.

Thornless blackberries

Blackberries setting on the bush.

Sour cherries

Doyle Thornless blackberries are healthy and strong and setting an enormous number of blossoms which will lead to an enormous amount of  fruit for brandy and jam.

Blueberries ripening

Eggplant taking hold

Bumble bean flowers